On Thursday evening it was reported by Andy Katz of ESPN.com that Florida International guard Raymond Taylor was forced to sit out the Panthers’ game against Bethune-Cookman due to the school and NCAA looking into questions regarding his eligibility. The issue: whether or not Taylor, who entered his name into the 2012 NBA Draft, withdrew his name ahead of the NCAA’s April 10 deadline.

According to the report if it’s found that Taylor in fact missed the deadline, his eligibility could be in jeopardy. Taylor did not play at FIU last season after transferring in from FAU, but prior to that decision Taylor considered turning pro.

NCAA spokesperson Stacey Osburn said in an email Thursday that a player can declare one time for the draft without losing their eligibility “as long as they are not drafted by a professional team and as long as they declare their intention to resume playing for their college team before the first day of the spring signing period, typically in April.”

Taylor did not. Based on the NBA releases, Taylor waited until sometime between May 3 and June 20 — after the early-signing period began — to withdraw.

One question to be asked here is how this situation, which occurred more than a year ago, is just now being addressed. Maybe Taylor, who’s averaging 12.2 points and 6.2 assists per game for Anthony Evans’ squad, was “lost in the shuffle” due to his decision to transfer from FAU to FIU. But isn’t this the responsibility of the compliance office, to make sure that a prospective student-athlete doesn’t have any issues that could place their eligibility in jeopardy?

As for the deadline itself, while the early April date is an inconvenience for players (and some programs will even tell players to go by the NBA’s withdrawal deadline) it is there. And when you’re a fringe (at best) prospect like Taylor, it becomes even more important to make sure that there are no such issues. Hopefully he’s allowed to return to the court at some point this season, but while ruling Taylor permanently ineligible would look to be harsh it’s difficult to take the convenient route and blame the NCAA for this one.